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Santa Ana Councilman Carlos Bustamante Arrested

OCRegister Breaking News: Former county official arrested on 12 felony sex-related charges http://bit.ly/OfjmvK

Santa Ana city councilman and a former Orange County executive was arrested and charged Monday with more than a dozen counts, including assault with the intent to commit a sexual offense, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office said.

District Attorney Tony Rackauckas will detail the criminal charges Tuesday against Carlos Bustamante, who resigned from his post as director of administrative services for O.C. Public Works in October after an internal investigation into accusations he had sexual encounters with his employees.

Here’s more details from KABC TV, Los Angeles.

Santa Ana City Councilman Carlos Bustamante was arrested on several charges Monday, including sexual battery, assault, stalking and false imprisonment.

According to a release by the Orange County District Attorney, Bustamante was charged with:

Six felony counts of false imprisonment

Three felony counts of assault with the intent to commit a sexual offense

One felony count of stalking

One felony count of attempted sexual battery by restraint

One felony count of grand theft by false pretense

One misdemeanor count of battery

One misdemeanor count of assault

One misdemeanor count of sexual battery

One misdemeanor count of attempted sexual battery

There was a sentencing enhancement allegation for committing the offenses as a result of sexual compulsion and for the purpose of sexual gratification, the release said.

More information will be released Tuesday morning, officials said.

Bustamante, a married father of three, was first elected to the City Council in November 2004. His term will end this November.

None of us are perfect – Christians realize that. However, that does not disqualify Christians from striving for a high standard of morality.

Santa Ana Citizen

July 3, 2012 at 8:21 am

This is no defense to Carlos Bustamante, but my strong suspicion is that this is a political prosecution. Simply put, Sexual harassment in the work place NEVER results in criminal prosecution. I defy readers to find another example of sexual harassment in the workplace being pursued by a DA, especially this DA.

Another thing to note is the nature of the charges. All the “sex” charges are what are referred to as “intent crimes.” Think of an 18 year old and a 16 year old making out on the couch, Mom and Dad pop in and find clothes slightly disheveled. Dad, a religious zealot, calls the police claiming the 18 year old boyfriend “intended” to have intercourse with his 16 year daughter. Think the DA would prosecute the 18 year old on “attempted statutory rape”? The intent crime allows overzealous prosecutors to interpret conduct very broadly to prosecute. The problem is that DAs rarely exercise reasonable prosecutorial discretion, because they are POLITICIANS or WANNABE POLITICIANS/JUDGES. That is fine when there are plans for blowing up a building, or killing somebody, or robbing a bank. But as you slide down the scale to interpret human interactions, especially ones that are clumsy and can be easily misinterpreted, it is a dangerous prosecutorial tool, especially since a DA in the OC can indict a Ham Sandwich.

Another consideration is that this is political cover for the GOP, as the entire county scandal is GOP electeds and GOP favoritism. Carlos Bustamante, Tom Mauk, Jess Carbajal, Shaun Nelson, Pat Bates. John Moorlach – Embarrasment that the matter was never addressed, and that Carlos got a severance package. Referral to the DA for political cover.

Moreover, the publicly released info was that he was allegedly having an affair(s) that were consensual, and that there were a number of people disgruntled about the promotions of those with which he was having affairs. The anonymous “letters” also seemed to be broadly discredited – not to say that Carlos was not engaged in civil wrongdoing, but criminal should be an entirely different calculus.

Again, this is a tragedy. This is not a defense to Carlos, but the question is whether this should be done, let alone celebrated.

Carlos may be a slimey philanderer, but a criminal? Seriously? There will be a lot political celebration, but it is uncalled for, and distracts from the real questions that should be asked.

SADemocrat

July 3, 2012 at 10:34 am

These acts are horrible! Mr. Bustamante abused his authority for his own pathetic pleasure.

What is more disturbing is that the instigator in uncovering this inappropriateness either felt severe retribution if she went to the County HR department or was silenced when her concerns were raised. Either way, it’s a a black eye on those County officials who done nothing when they knew of it.

The same can be said with rumors but comments involving OC Clerk/Recorders relations with his female staff members which have been known for some time. Is he exempt from this “intent’ violation of the law?